The enormous clang of giant brass knockers on foot thick Honduran mahogany
lumber announced the arrival once again of Bob the Diver Duchan to
collaborate on my scientific, albeit crazed, investigations into, Clap Hands
Here Comes Charlie, an Ella Fitzgerald classic. My tame butler, Igor, showed
him into the cavernous foyer so ominously dank and dark, illumined only by a
single sconce, and proceeded to serve the refreshments: aged Stilton with a
flacon of vintage wine. After flinging our empty glasses into the fireplace, we
proceeded to listen to the following editions of Clap Hands Here Comes
Charlie.

Although the rankings below appear jumbled, there was a clear gap between the
top pair of Hot Stamper and Analogue 45 and the bottom pair of Classic and
Speakers Corner. The top pair had an airy spacious sound that the bottom pair of
33 rpm re-issues could not match. Then it came down to Ray's personal preference
for a less aggressive treble on female vocals. You will have to listen through
our comments to identify your own personal preference.

Rank

Ray

Bob

1

Hot Stamper

Analogue 45

2

Analogue 45

Hot Stamper

3

Classic

Speakers Corner

4

Speakers Corner

Classic

Ray's Comments

When the needle hits the groove on the Hot Stamper, it just sounds so right to
me. I had previously owned the Classic only, and had been puzzled at the great
reputation enjoyed by Clap Hands. The Hot Stamper showed me why. It draws
you in with its naturalness. Don't look for whiz-bang effects. The greatest
effect of all is to sound natural. There is real emotional impact at the end of
"‘Round Midnite." "Feelin' sad" really feels sad. I simply enjoyed this
edition more than the others. It has swing. It has rhythm. It has drive.

The Analogue 45 has a delicate airy quality while still delivering punch on the
drums. However, there's a glare to the top end that I find off-putting,
especially on Ella's vocals. The 33 rpm re-issues both lacked the big airy sound
of the top two editions and had noticeably compressed dynamics. You lose
dynamics, you lose emotional impact. I gave the nod to the Classic over the
Speakers Corner because it has less glare on the top end.

Bob's Comments

The Analogue 45 had the best versions of "Stella by Starlight" and
"‘Round Midnite," with clear vocals and strong bass. The piano on "Night in Tunisia"
really stands out. In a word, the dynamics are outstanding, to the point where
sometimes I felt the vocals were overloading the room on "You're My Thrill."
However, we had measured the sound level carefully to ensure we were listening
at the same loudness for all editions, so it was simply that the Analogue 45 had
tremendous dynamics. At the same time, there are fine nuances on Ella's vocals
on "Jersey Bounce," so the album delivers finesse combined with power.

The Hot Stamper had the same overall sound as the Analogue 45, but I couldn't
get past the surface noise. There are a lot of loud tics and pops. I agree with
Ray that the sound is very natural, especially the piano. On "My Reverie" the
bells sound clear and hang in the air. "Stella by Starlight"had strong
bass and the snare drum had snap. The vocals are clean throughout.

The Speakers Corner and Classic editions were good as far as they went, but
lacked the involvement of the other two editions. I found myself making fewer
notes as the music simply did not inspire.

Methodology

We set the volume to get a peak reading of 100 db on the first cut,
"Night in
Tunisia," for all four editions as measured by a Radio Shack sound meter set to
C weighting. All three re-issues were mastered at similar levels, whereas we
estimate the original issue Hot Stamper was mastered about 3 dB lower.

All editions were bought through regular retail channels, same as you, gentle
reader.